Rail bond



E. M. DEEMS RAIL BOND Dec. 10, 1929.

Filed. July 1, 1925 INVENTOR M 12- 3M BY 2. W 7 ATTORN Y Patented Dec. 10, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE" EDWARD M. DEEMS, OF FOREST HILLS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO RAILROAD ACCES- SORIES CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK,

RAIL

Application filed July 1,

This invention relates to railways and especially to railway signalling and more-particularly to railway track circuits.

It is well known to those skilled in the rail- 5 way signalling art that the ordinary splice bars and bolts commonly used to connect the abutting ends'of two rails do not as a rule afford sufficient conductivity to insure proper operation of railway signalling track circuits.

In order to insure the proper conductivity at the abutting ends of rails, it is common practice to electrically connect the abutting railway ends by means of what is known as a bond. This bond commonly consists of one or more wires or conductors, one end of which is connected to one of the rail ends and the other end of which is connected to theabutting rail end.

The common construction has certain difficulties, amongst others may be mentioned the fact that unless a relatively large conductor or wire is usedsome undesirable resistance is inserted in the circuit and further the unsupported wire extending from one rail end to the other rail end around on the outside of or behind the splice bar being unsupported often becomes entangled with dragging brake rigging and so torn from place and whether torn from place or not, as a rule, if

unsupported, presents rather an untidy appearance.

Applicants main object is to provide a bonding means for connecting the abutting ends of rails which will afiord a greater conductivity than bonds of the same general nature in common use and which will further embody a supporting means such that the bond wire when in place will not be so liable to be entangled with dragging brake rigging and will present a much more tidy appearance.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description of the particular embodiments selected to illustrate the invention pro- 4 gresses, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In describing the invention in detail, and the particular physical embodiments selected to illustrate the invention, reference is had to 'N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK BOND 1925. Serial No. 40,730.

the accompanying drawing, wherein I have illustrated particular preferred physical embodiments of my invention, and wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and in which Figure 1 is a side elevational view of abutting rail ends with my improved bonding means in place thereon;

Figure 2 is a horizontal cross sectional view of the device as shown by Fig. 1;

Figure 3, is a cross sectional view on the plane indicated by the line IIIIII of Fig. l, viewed in the direction of the arrows at the ends of the line.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, I have shown two abutting rail ends land 2 connected in the usual manner by splice bars as 3 and 4, having bolts as 5. This shows the usual construction.

Usually the rails 1 and 2 are connected electrically by means of a pair of bond wires as 6 and 7 These bond wires at each end are connected to a rail end and usually by means of the duplex pin 8. These bond wires, I will call main bond wires.

In practice the main bond wires 6 and 7 may pass from one rail end to the other rail end either behind a splice bar as for in front of :1- splice bar as 4, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. In either case, the main bond wires from the pin'8 to the pin 8 in rail 2 are unsupported and therefore likely to get out of place and if outside of the splice bar 4 are likely to get up so high that they may be caught by dragging brake rigging or even get up onto the running face of the rail and so be severed by a passing train. It is further to be-observed that the main bond wires 6 and 7 mustbe of a very considerable size in fact a practically prohibitive size in order to alford a conductivity equal to the rails or the splice bars.

In order to take advantage of the conductivity of the splice bars and thus in effect reduce the resistance of the main bond wires 6 and 7 and to also afford a means for supporting the main bond wires 6 and 7, applicant has provided what he terms branch bond wires as 9 and 10. In order to form these branch bond wires, applicant takes a length of bond wire and wraps it intermediate its ends as shown at 11, about the main bond wires 6 and 7, leaving in the process the free ends 9 and 10. Applicant finds it preferable to solder or otherwise suitably electrically connect the branch bond wires with the main bond wires 6 and 7 at the convolutions 11. By so doing a firm mechanical connection is made between the branch and the main bond wires so that V the convolutions 11 may not slip lengthwise of the main bond wires and assurance is had that the electrical connection between the branch bond wires and the main bond wires will remain intact. The ends 9 and 10 of the branch bond wires are then properly connected electrically and mechanically to the adjacent end of the splice bar. This connection is preferably made by a duplex pin as 12 just as the ends of the main bond wires are connected to the rails as land 2'by means of the pins as 8.

The construction hereinbefore described is common and well known in so far as the connection of the rails by the main bond wires 6 and 7 is concerned. so that all of the virtues of such form of connection as commonly used are preserved. In addition by providing branch bond wires 9 and 10, applicant decreases the resistance of the bonding between rails 1 and 2, because with applicants construction the resistance of bond wire to be considered is ordinarily only that wire between the channel pin 8 of rail 1, and the bond wire up to channel pin 12 on the adjacent end of the splice bar 4, together with the similar end of bond wire at the other end of the splice bar, whereasin the old construction, the conductivity or resistance between convolutions 11 would also have to be taken into consideration. In applicants construction advantage is taken of the conductivity of the large mass of material forming the splice bar.

Applicants construction not only provides a decreased resistance in the bond taken as a whole, but it also affords an excellent means for supporting and maintaining the main bond wires 6- and 7 in theproper place and in a tidy condition. and in the formsshown byFigs. land 4, resiliently.

Applicants construction also provides a factor of safety in that if any break in the main bond wires 6 and 7 between the convol-utions 11 and 11 takes place there isstill a good bond from rail end to rail end. If any break occurs in the branch bonds 9 and. 10, there is still a path of fair conductivity through the main bond wires 6 and 7.

path until such time as the branch bond wires ma 1 be replaced.

lthough applicant has herein described his construction by illustrating two main bond wires, nevertheless, he desires to have it understood that he does not thereby exclude a single wire bond or a plural wire bond. Although I have particularly described the constructions of several preferred embodiments of my invention, and explained the operation and principle thereof, nevertheless I desire to have it understood that the forms selected are merely illustrative, but do not exhaust the possible physical embodiments of the idea of means underlying my invention. What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is The combination with a splice bar for connecting the ends of adjacent rails having an aperture adj acenteach end and a bond wire; of means for resiliently supporting said bond wire in spaced relation to the splice bar and electrically connecting the bond wire to the splice bar, comprising a heavy wire coiled around the bond wire adjacent each end thereof and having its free ends wedged in said aperture.

EDWARD M. DEEMS.

- Applicants 'construct-ion'also not only I 

